Dautry



Feb. 21, 1956 2,735,910

D. DAU TRY ELECTROMAGNETIC RELAY Filed Dec. 13, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet l F/G3. F/G. 4, f2

' H mm 11 n n M 35 v v I 5/ I #11 1-1 3 L J J J J J 5/ 4 4408 47 42 23 0 52 Inventor D. DAUT RY Altorne Feb. 21, 1956 D. DAUTRY 2,735,910

ELECTROMAGNETIC RELAY Filed Dec. 15, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 X2143 s0'F/G5. F/G.7.

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F/G.// F/G/B 52 ll 46 QI I Ii 4/ I 'T I II 36 I I' 53 i I I 39 59 I Q99 I 6) 59 i 57 I I 37 37 59 Inventor D. DAUT RY By A tlorney Feb. 21, 1956 D. DAUTRY ELECTROMAGNETIC RELAY 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec. 13, 1951 FIG/6.

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69 0 0 cf o o Inventor D. DA UT RY Attorne s United States Patent Electric Corporation, New York, N. 1., a or poration Delaware Application December 13, 1951, Serial No. 261, 38 Claims priority, application December 15, 195%.-

d Elaims. (6i. ZilO- ld) The present invention relates to a multi-contact electromagnetic relay of simple design and requiring no me adjustment of the contact springs.

Gne of the features of this invention resides in a relay having two guide bars running transverse to the longitudinal axes of the contact springs, the bars being provided with notches in which the stationary and the rnovable contact-springs, which are not cambered, are lodged freely but without play, the guide bars being made to rest, by a spring device individual to each, against a stationary stop common to both bars and thus being held in a definite position with respect to each other.

Another feature of the invention lies in the fact that one of the guide bars is controlled by a lever rigidly attached to the relay armature so as to engage said guide bar against the tension of its individual spring device and bring th associated contact springs to their operated position, said lever being returned to the unoperated position by means of the individual spring device exerting tension against said guide guide bar, which again comes to rest against the common stationary stop.

another feature of the invention lies in the fact that the guide bars are held in place within notches provided for that purpose in the contact springsby the stationary stop and one of the spring devices, in the case of one of the guide bars, and by the arm of the armature and the other spring device, in the case of the other guide bar.

A further feature of the invention lies in the fact that the spring device associated with the guide bar carrying the movable contact-springs provides the normal contact pressure for the movable contact springs in their unoperated condition after the relay is unoperated and, when the relay is energized and de-energized, exerts he pressure required to urge the guide bar back against the stationary stop and the armature back to normal position.

A further feature of the invention lies in the fact that the contact springs comprise twin contacts and are so shaped that the following points of each contact spring are aligned or nearly aligned: midpoint between the twin contacts, mean point of engagement of the contact spring by one of the guide bars and flexing midpoint of the spring, so as to prevent torsion and obtain equal pressure by both twin contacts of a moving spring against those of a stationary spring.

A still further feature of the invention resides in the fact that the distance between the contacts and the mean point of engagement of the contact springs by a guide bar and tie distance between said mean point of engagement and the mean flexing point of the contact springs are a proxiinately in the ratio of two to five, thus allowing a large rolling motion of the moving contact-springs against the stationary contact-springs, which maintains the contacts clean, this rolling motion being greater in proportion. as the two contact-carrying blades constituting the upper portion of the contact springs have their flexibility increased by a reduction in width at their base.

Various other features of the invention will become apparent from the following description, given as a non- I: limitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of relay, as seen from the contact-spring side;

Fig. 2 is a side view;

Fig. 3 is a plan view, with the left-hand section taken through AA of Fig. 2;

l g 4, perspective view of the moving-armature support;

Fig. 5, a plan view of the two tion on the relay;

Fig. 6, a side view of the guide bars shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7, a contact spring;

Fig. 8, a perspective view of a contact spring mounted on a guide bar;

Fig. 9, a locking spring;

10, the support of the contact-spring stack; Fig. 11, a side view of Fig. 10; 7 12, the guide-bar stop;

13, a side view of Fig. 12;

14, a side view, taken from the side of the movingarrnature arm, showing the contact springs in operated position;

Fig. 15, a side view, taken from the contact-spring side, showing the application of the invention to a set of ten relays, only three of which are shown;

ig. 16, a plan view of Fig. 15;

i i g. 17, a side elevation, from the winding side;

Fig. 18, a strip used for multipling the contact springs in a inulti-relay assembly.

The electromagnetic relay shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 our rises a core 1 constituting together with spool heads a 3 a winding 4. The winding is fastened to yoke 5 y a screw t? passing through said yoke and working into the lower pole-piece 7 of core 1, which is bent at right angles.

Yoke 5 is L-shaped. A clearance 8 allows lodging the ends of the locking and stacking screws of the contact springs in yoke 5.

The armature it), consisting of a flap Ill and an arm 12, is hinged on a support 13 (Fig. 4) by means of a pit:

Support 13 is fastened to yoke 5 by a screw 14 traversing said support through a hole 21. Support 13 cornprises a cylindrical dowel 19, which dowel lodges in cooperating hole of yoke 5 to properly align the support with respect to the yoke. The two holes 2% and 21 are elongated so as to allow positioning the armature 10 so that the distance of the flap 11 from core it may be adjusted. lin is inserted through support 13 through hole 16.

Arm 1?. of armature iii is recessed at its lower end 22 Figs. 2 and l. so as to allow it to fit into shoulder 9 of guide bar 43 with very little play, for reasons that will be explained hereinafter.

The contact-spring stack comprises stationary contactsprings, such as 23, and moving contact-springs, such as Both the stationary and the moving contactsprings have the same thickness and the same profile, as shown in 7. The positioning in the stack of a stationary spring with respect to a moving spring is obtained by rotating one of the two springs through 186 around its longitudinal axis.

As can be seen in Fig. 7, one end of the contact springs, rectangular in shape, has a longitudinal slit 25, widened towards the bottom so as to make it very flexible, at points 2.6 and as, which slit separates the two blades 27 and 27 on which are mounted the contacts, such as 2% and 23. A notch 31 is provided to allow assembling the contact spring with guide bar 42 or 43, as will be described later. Each contact spring is locked in the stack guide bars in their posiat its broadened portion 33, elongated hole 32 allowing the passage of locking and fastening screws 17 and 18. The other end 34 constitutes the terminal lug for electrical connections.

The contact springs are specially shaped so that the three points it, b and will be aligned. Point arepresents the midpoint between twin contacts 28 and 23';- p'oint b, the mean point of engagement of a moving contact-spring by guide bar 43'; and point 0, the flexing midpoint of the spring. Since each moving contact-spring is moved in a direction which is in a plane normal with respect to its longitudinal axis, there is no torsion to cause unequalpressure between the twin contacts of a moving spring and those of a stationary contact-spring.

It should benoted, moreover, that the ratio ab/bc is about 2/5, so that there is a large rolling motion of the moving contacts on the stationary contacts when the relay operates.

The contact springs, such as 23 and. 24, are held in a pile-up between locking plate 35 and support 35 by a screw 18, said springs being insulated from each other by non-conductive plates, such as 38-, saidplates being interleaved between the springs.

Support 36, shown in Figs. and ll, has two holes 37 and 39. Hole 37 is tapped and receives locking screw 13. Hole 39 is untapped and allows passage of screw 17, which fastens the contact-spring stack to yoke 5.

A part 40 is place in the contact-spring stack between support 35 and one of theinsulating plates 38. Part 40, shown in Figs. 12 and 13, has the same profile as support 36. Two holes 59 and 59- are provided for screws 17 and 18. The upper portion of part 40 is bent and constitutes a stop 41 for guide bars 42 and 43. A hole 46, whose purpose will beexplained further on, is provided in stop 41.

The two guide bars 42 and 43 holding the contact springs in a definite position are shown in Figs. 5 and 6, in plan and side views, respectively, in the position they occupy on relay; the dashed-line in Fig. 5 represents the stop 41 against which the two guide bars rest. These two guide bars are made of non-conductive material. They have a certain number of identical notches, such as 44', evenly spaced from one another and so arranged that each notch of one guide bar corresponds to an interval between two notches of the other guide bar.

Guide bar 4-2 has at'enon 45 at one end, which fits into'hole 46 of stop 41 (Figs. 1 2 and 3), against which it rests upon the two bearing surfaces 47 and 48. At the other end of guide bar 42 there'is a shoulder 49, in which is lodged an end 52 of a holding spring 53, said end 52 exerting sufiicient pressure on bearing surface 56 to keep said guide bar 42 resting against stop 41. Tenon 45 in its hole 46, on the one hand, and stop 51 in combination with end 52, on the other, prevent the displacement of the guide bar in the direction of arrow f1 (Fig. 5).

Similar to guide bar 42, guide bare 43'is provided with a shoulder 49 in which is lodged an end 52' of aflexible spring 53'. End 52 exerts pressure on bearing surface 50 to keep guide bar 43 resting against stop 41 through its end 54-. Guide bar43 furthercomprises a shoulder 9 in which is lodged the end 22 of armature arm 12. End 22 is recessed, as has already been explained, so as to allow little or no play of said end 22 against shoulder 9 in order to permit complete contact of bar 43 against stop 4 1 in the unoperatedposition of the relay. End 52' of spring 53 in combination with the stop 51 constituted by shoulder 49', on the one hand, and end 22 of armature arm 12 in combination with stop 55 of shoulder 9, on the other, prevent the. displacement of guide bar 43 in the direction of arrow 32.

The twosprings 53 and 53 formed asshown in Fig. 9, are placed in the contact-spring stack under locking plate 35 in the following order: plate 35, spring 53, spring'53' and insulating plate 38, spring 53 being turned over,

d with respect to spring 53, by rotating it through a angle around its longitudinal axis. The thickness of spring 53' is less than that of spring 53. An elongated opening 56 is provided in portion 57 of spring 53 to allow passage of screws 17 and 13.

The contact springs are straight, i. e., they are not cambered, and they are assembled by inserting them in notches 44 of the guide bars, as shown in Fig. 8. Each contact spring is placed in a notch 44 of a guide bar, the latter being lodged in notch 31,. whose two Walls 29 and prevent any displacement of the guide bar vertically and around its longitudinal axis. Moreover, the width of notches 44 is such that the contact springs can be assembled freely but without any lateral play.

To facilitate the insertion of the contact springs, slight chamfers, such as 58 and 58, are provided on the edges of notches 44 (Figs. 5 and 8).

From the foregoing it will be seen that the two guide bars 42 and 43' are held in place, in a first plane on the one hand, by sides 29 and 3t! of notches 31 of the contact springs and, on the other, by portion 52 of spring. 53 and hole 46 of stop 41, as regards guide bar 42, and are held in a second plane normal to the first plane by portion 52 of spring 53' and end 22 of armature arm 12, in the case of guide bar 43.

Moreover, since the two guide bars 42 and 43 are accurately machined to stn'ct dimensions and rest against common stop 41, it follows that, because of their design, the contact springs, thus guided, occupy definite positions with respect to their opposite cooperating springs. A practical and important result of this arrangement is the elimination of the usual time-consuming, delicate and costly adjustment of the contact springs. The stacking of the contact springs as described in effected separately. It is done in a known manner, the various elements being locked in place between plate 35 and support 36 by screw 18'. Guide bars 42 and 43 are then assembled with the contact springs in the following manner:

After pulling away holding spring 53, tenon 45 of guide bar 42 is inserted in hole 46 of stop 41 and, by pivoting said guide bar around its tenon 45, the guide bar is made to engage notches 31 of the contact springs, said springs fitting into the respective notches 44 of guide bar '42; then one releases spring 53, whose portion 52 becomes lodged in shoulder 49 of bar 52. A similar method is used for assembling guide bar 43, with the difference, however, that, since it does not comprise a tenon similar to 45, the assembling is done by lining up guide bar 43 normal with the contact springs and causing'the slots 45 in the bar 43'to engage the slots 31 of alternate springs.

In order to mount this stack on the coil-yoke armature assembly, end '22 of armature arm 1-2 is slid into shoulder 9 of guide bar 43 and stack support 36 is brought against yoke 5; the end of locking screw 18 extending into hole 60 in yoke 5. The stack is then-fastened to yokeS' by means of screw 17, the yoke having a tapped hole 62' for-this-purpose.

Once the relay has been assembled, a guide bar can easily be. replaced by reversing the procedure described for its assembling, without having to detach the contact-spring stack from the coil-yoke-moving armature assembly.

The stack of the described relay embodiment allows the following. position combinations: one make-break position and sixmake positions. In the unoperated position, all thesprings have their contacts opened, excepting the first two springs counting from the armature, which have their contacts closed. and which, together with the third'spring, correspond to the make-break 'combination'(F i'gs. 2- and 3) These first two springs are kept in contact by the pressure exerted by portion 52' of spring 53 on surface 5%)" ofguide bar 43. As can be seen, said springs are bent at the top between their '5 contacts and the guide bars and likewise at the bottom between the insulating plates and the guide bars.

When the coil Winding is energized, flap 11 is attracted to core 1 (Fig. 14) and causes armature arm 12 to pivot on axis 15. End 22, striking against surface 61 of guide bar 43, displaces said guide bar, on which are mounted moving contact-springs 24. Driven by guide bar 43, said movable springs yield elastically and their contacts make against the contacts of stationary springs 23 or else break, depending upon the make or break combinations used in the stack. Under the pressure exerted by the moving-spring contacts upon the stationary-spring contacts, the upper portions of the springs yield and thereby cause a large rolling motion between the contacts, this motion ensuring clean contacts because of the burnishing effect achieved by the rolling motion of the contacts. The flexibility of the contact springs is increased because of the fact that they are lodged freely in the notches 44 of the guide bars; the lower portion of the springs, i. e., the portion comprised between the guide bars and the insulating plates, follows the flexure of the upper portion. Spring 53' increases its tension against the force exerted by the arm 12 upon actuation of the relay.

It will be noted, further, that the contact pressure sought is obtained by choosing the thickness of the contact springs according to the displacement of the moving armature 19.

When the soil is energized, the magnetic pull exerted by core 1 on flap 11 ceases. Armature arm 12 stops bearing on surface 61 of guide bar 43; spring 53, which exerts steady pressure on surface 50, brings guide bar 43 back against stop 41, said guide bar acting simultaneously, through its surface 61, on end 22 of arm 12, which is restored to normal position. Flap 11 draws away from core 1. Movable contact-springs 24 follow the movement of guide bar 43 and the relay is restored to normal position as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

Figs. 15, 16 and 17 show the application of the above described relay to a set of ten relays, only three of which are shown.

These ten relays are identical with the one described above, with the sole difference that a certain number of component members are common to the Whole set. These various components are: yoke stack support 36, mounted under part 40', part 40' itself, with its stop 41', against which the guide bars rest, and insulating plates 38', arranged between the contact springs and locking plate 35'.

The ten contact-spring stacks form a self-contained assembly, just as the single relay stack described. The various members are assembled and locked in place on common support 36' by means of screws, such as 63 which corresponds to screw 18 in the case of the single stack shown in Fig. 2.

The ten-stack assembly is mounted on the yoke-coil armature assembly as follows: The ten-stack assembly is tilted suitably with respect to the side of the yoke carrying the armatures, placing the shoulders 9 of guide bars &3 opposite the ends 22 of armature arms 12. The ten-stack assembly is slid upwards, whereby ends 22 are driven into shoulders 9. Support 36' is then brought against yoke 5', the ends of locking screws 63 working into holes 64 of yoke 55. Finally, the ten-stack assembly is fastened to yoke 5 by means of screws, such as 65 (corresponding to screw 17 in the case of the single stack shown in Fig. 2), working into tap holes, such as 66.

This ten-relay assembly may be used, for example, in lieu of the decimal rotary switches employed particularly in automatic telephone systems, each relay corresponding to one position of such switches.

Certain electric circuits connected to the terminal lugs 34 of the contact springs may be common to the same springs of the ten relays making up a set. Instead of the usual multipling of such springs by means of leads soldered to the ten terminal lugs of the springs to be 6 multipled, thin strips are provided, such as 67 (Fig. 18), made of a good conducting material, which are juxtaposed in the stack with respect to the contact springs to be multipled. In order not to alter the spacing between the springs to be multipled and adjacent springs, the insuiating plate is replaced with a similar but thinner plate.

A multipling strip 67 is shown in Fig. 18. It comprises holes, such as 68, sufficiently large for the free passage of locking screws 63; elongated openings, such as 69, for locking screws 63 and fastening screws 65, and four smaller holes, such as 70, provided for the guide rods (not shown), used only for assembling the stacks. Likewise, provision may be made for multipling only a certain number of corresponding contact springs in the sevveral pile-ups, the multipling strips being then cut to the desired length.

It is quite evident that other embodiments are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention, the foregoing description being given only as a non-limitative example.

I claim:

1. A multi-contact relay comprising an electromagnet, a mounting yoke attached to said electromagnet, an armature cooperating with said electromagnet, an assembly of contact springs insulatedly mounted from a base and from each other in a single pileup, the springs of said assembly being of initial identical profile, each spring having a free end and a mounting end and further having a notch in an edge thereof adjacent the free end, said springs arranged so that the notches of alternate of said springs are in register and in a line in a first plane normal to the longitudinal axes of the springs in said pile-up and the notches of intervening of said springs are in register and in a line in a second plane parallel to said first plane, said lines being in a third plane normal to said first and second planes, a pair of guide bars of insulating material, each having a series of spaced notches along an edge thereof, said bars spaced from each other and having their notched edges facing each other, a first of said guide bars coupled to alternate of said springs, each coupled alternate spring adapted to have its notch seated within a different one of the notches in said first bar, the second of said bars coupled to intervening of said springs, each coupled intervening spring adapted to have its notch seated within a different one of the notches in said second bar, corresponding of the notches of said oars being staggered with respect to each other, a common stop member disposed between said yoke and said guide bars, a pair of separate tensioning devices associated with said bars, each adapted to tension a different one of said bars against said stop member, means coupled between said armature and said first ear for moving said first bar against the tension of its associated tension device upon energization of said electromagnet.

2. A multi-contact relay as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said springs comprises a linear member having a central flexing point intermediate said free end and said mounting end, each spring being bent a given angle from the longitudinal axis of said mounting end in a direction normal to the plane of flexure of said spring.

3. A multi-contact relay as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of said springs further comprises a bifurcation at the free end thereof and a pair of twin contact surfaces, one contact surface on each of the arms of the bifurcated end of said spring.

4. A multi-contact relay as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of said springs has the midpoint between said twin contact surfaces, the mean point of engagement of the spring and the flexing midpoint of the spring in alignment.

5. A multi-contact relay as claimed in claim 3, wherein said given angle is chosen so that the contact surfaces of adjacent springs are in register.

6. multicnt'act relay as' claimed in claim 4, Where'- in' the distance b'etwen" the midpoint of said twin contact surfaces" and the mean point of engagement of the spring with the fie'xing mTdpoint to said mean point is in the ratio of 275'.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Brander Apr. 13, 1937 Baker Apr. 14, 1942 Hbrlacher Man. 14,.1'950 Blomqvi'st Sept. 30,..19-52.

Saunders et a1; Aug. 4', 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Apr. 1, 1949 Great Britain Aug. 11, 1-949 France May 27, 1-947 

